The history of the Nichimo 1/48 scale (ex-Marusan 1/50 scale) 'Jake' kit was the subject of Part 2 of 'Jake a Tale of Two Scales' way back in November 2016 here. Now Michael Thurow presents the third and final part of his impressive resurrection and improvement of his own, older build of that kit, as so splendidly realised in the heading image above. The previous parts 1 and 2 of his article are here and here. Over to Michael then:
The Nichimo E13A 'Jake' revisited ‒ Part 3
Michael Thurow
The third part of my 'Jake' renovation story describes the final assembly and finishing of the model's main components.
Before painting the fuselage I asked advice from Nick regarding an amber grey variation for the E13A which I then tried to approximate with a home-made mixture that appears more amber than in Fig.12ff. Basic decals came from the spares box and the tail code was printed on clear decal film (red outline filled with white colour). A few extras are highlighted below -
The floats received prop warning stripes and indicators for the beaching trolley. I painted the underside dark grey, probably an anti-corrosive, that was not generally applied to 'Jake' floats but can be observed on a few examples (MM p.5, FAOW 207 p.12) and presumably on ZI-23 (ibid p.22). It lends a more elegant shape to the float which is a bit too deep for 1/50. Other details as described in Fig.13 -
The folded wings help to disguise the deficient chord at the wing root but caused an extra problem of spotting details on the few blurry pictures existent. My best effort is presented below. Even so, having a model with folded wings adds a special touch to my collection.
(4) Maru Mechanic (p.58) describes the stripes as drift marks. I'm not convinced because on photos (MA p.38) they appear straight and parallel and not angled like typical drift lines. They might as well be indicators for the leading edge tank or for the pilot to judge the float dimensions. Apparently not all early 'Jakes' were decorated in this way. (Dive angle indicators. Ed)
And here, finally, is the finished model -
ZI-22 was one of four Type 0 Reconnaissance Seaplanes aboard the tender Kamikawa Maru. The ship and her compliment of 'Jakes' seem to have participated in several offensive operations during the first six months of the Pacific War. FOAW 207 shows them floating at Saint-Jacques near Saigon in late December 1941 during the landing operation in Malaya (p.23). Carrier Operations Vol.II has them heading for Batavia on February 24, 1942 as part of the Java Invasion Force (p.29), and SPAW Vol.3 locates them at Deboyne Is. in the Coral Sea in May 1942 supporting the planned seizure of Port Moresby. The Kamikawa Maru soldiered on until May 29, 1943 when she was sunk by the submarine USS Scamp.
The beaching trolley is enclosed in the Nichimo kit as a bonus part. Some photos enticed me to upgrade it to a trolley-cum-work-platform shown here in more detail. With this picture I'd like to round off my seven months of involvement with this venerable kit. Thank you for your interest and for your kind comments.
References
CARRIER OPERATIONS IN WORLD WAR II, VOLUME II, DAVID BROWN, SHEPPERTON, 1974
TYPE 0 RECONNAISSANCE SEAPLANE, MARU MECHANIC NO.12, TOKYO 1978
IMPERIAL JAPANESE NAVY RECONNAISSANCE SEAPLANES, FAMOUS AIRPLANES OF THE WORLD NO.47, TOKYO, 1994 IMPERIAL JAPANESE NAVY SEAPLANES, MODEL ART NO.565, TOKYO, 2000
IMPERIAL JAPANESE NAVY SEAPLANES, NOHARA SHIGERU, JAPAN, 2007
SOUTH PACIFIC AIR WAR, VOLUME 3, MICHAEL CLARINGBOULD / PETER INGMAN, KENT TOWN, 2019
TYPE 0 RECONNAISSANCE FLOATPLANE, FAMOUS AIRPLANES OF THE WORLD NO.207, TOKYO, 2022 WWW.AVIATIONOFJAPAN.COM/2010/04/AICHI-E13-JAKE-INTERIOR-COLOUR.HTML
CORRESPONDENCE WITH NICK MILLMAN, 2019/2021/2023
With special thanks to Michael for this thoroughly exacted account of the resurrection and improvement of this older model - and how! A masterclass in how not just an older kit but an older model can be brought up to something beautiful to behold.
Image credit; All photos © 2024 Michael Thurow
10 comments:
Michael,
You did a excellent job on this old kit. All your improvements make the difference.
I also like your photograph of the diorama; the palmtrees and that amber grey finish, wunderful ....
Thanks you and Nick for this nice article !
John Haas
This is so cool. Part three was worth the wait Michael. Your trolley really brings the model to life. Did you use real wood? Kudos Nick on some nice treatment for the Jake.
Beautiful model of a fine seaplane! The amber grey is well represented - I know how difficult is to guess the right shade of that color...thank you and Nick for sharing your model with us.
A Master Class indeed !!!... excellent in every aspect...the photography, dolly, and "Mr. Jake" himself !!
Gratitude to both Nick and Michael for this grand finale to the "Jake series"
I'm very happy that you like this oldie - thank you for your comments!
Yes, Jim, I cut lengths of balsa wood and soaked them with diluted oil colour. I was surprised by the nice effect myself. Balsa wood is a wonderful material also for shape corrections, much easier to cut and sand than plastic card.
Long time visitor to this awesome site, first comment. BRILLIANT MODEL! I remember the kit well from back in the 70's when I first got one. You knocked it out of the park:)
You know what happens now right? After all your hard work a new generation kit will be released (LOL)! But I'm sure yours will still be nicer!
Best regards,
Scott
Beautifully built. I will have to steal your idea of using real balsa for the cart, it's ingenious
Woody
I can only echo the superlatives offered by others, Michael. The photos are excellent and the series was nicely thought out. This one is my favorite model among your many fine builds that I've seen here, among the best to appear here over the years. These thoughts are admittedly influenced by my love for the subject, but I also think that the research, workmanship, and imagination all came together in a special way here. Kudos. You've got the perfect audience here too for this one ...I can't be the only one who grew up and grew old occasionally imagining how they might salvage this kit...only to open the box again, take a good look and replace it on the shelf!
Laying out a sequential three-part series with Google Blogger these days is its own work - Nick, thanks for the chance to see this build 'from the ground up' in a way that could benefit anyone willing to tackle this kit that somehow - not in 1963 but in in 2024 - is still the only game in town for 1/48 builders.
There are people from all over the world here. Perhaps we could organize a respectful torchlight procession to the steps of Tamiya's offices in Shizuoka, waving placards and chanting, in one language after another:
Quarter scale Jake
It's what we wanna make
Sixty years of waiting
For a quarter scale Jake
You 1/72 builders could easily come up with a better one than that, as I know you've waited almost as long for a modern kit; but a day or two of that, and someone in a nice suit might eventually come out the door to say that drawings have begun for new tooling in both scales. ;<)
Fantastic, a labor of love for sure. Great project and execution, Michael!
Dan
Great Idea Mark!
Gathering my torchlight right now :)
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